FLAMENCO GUITAR MAGAZINEISSUE 1 FALL 2015

Who is the next Paco

Jose Luis RodriguezInterview and Transcriptions

The Practice of Picadoby Adam Del Monte

New Releases and Videos

Beyond Flamenco

FlamencoGuitarClasscom

Jose Luis RodriguezInterview and Transcriptions

The Practice of Picadoby Adam Del Monte

New Releases and Videos

Beyond Flamenco

FlamencoGuitarClasscom

wwwFlamencoGuitarMagazinecom

Essential Album Reviews Essential Album Reviews

Letter from the editorHola Tocaores Flamencos and welcome to the first issue of Flamenco Guitar Magazine (Fall 2015) the only magazine for Flamenco Guitarists by Flamenco Gui-taristsWhy did I create Flamenco Guitar Maga-zine Because its something I would like to read but didnt exist I strive to make FGM a FREE quarterly digital publication with quality articles interviews transcrip-tions and album reviews important to Flamenco Guitarists around the world Also itrsquos a plat-form to feature new video and album releases from myself my colleagues and important art-ists I keep it short and simple in an easy and instantly downloadable PDF form

Flamenco Guitar around the world is far too big for me to cover everything so I can not take responsibility of that burden In this publication we will put more attention on Flamenco Gui-tar studies and Flamenco Guitar in online media and releases (albums and videos) -Ben Woods

Senior Editor Ben WoodsContributing Editor Berto BoydColumnist Adam Del MonteAlbum Reviews Eric Jeager Ben Woods Kai Narezo

US PERFORMANCESFlamenco Agenda - Created by Bryan Douglas (Seattle based Flamenco Guitarist) Bryan

saw there was a lack of exposure for Flamenco live shows in the USA so he created this blog

1

FLAMENCO GUITAR MAGAZINErsquoS 1ST ISSUE

photo by Vince Trupsin

We are all mourning the loss of our dear hero Paco de Lucia The simple answer to the question ldquoWho is the next Pacordquo is that there isnrsquot one The fact that he almost single-handedly expanded the harmonic vocabulary of Flamenco can never be imi-tated or duplicated

Of course there are the artists wersquove grown to know and love Gerardo Nuntildeez Vicente Amigo Tomatito Nino de Pura Pedro Sierra and many others who are all contenders and whom we hope to interview in the coming issues Itrsquos hard to say if there can or will EVER be another artist as great as Paco de Lucia but there are certainly some amazing ones out there For instanceJose Luis Rodriguez (our featured interview)

-Ben Woods

WHO IS THE NEXT PACO

2

photo taken from Google Images

FEATURED VIDEOS

3

Brand new video from ERIC amp ENCARNACION of Seattle called ldquoRumba al Maestrordquo dedicated to Paco De Lucia Available on iTunes

BEN WOODSrsquo arrangement of Pacorsquos ldquoSolo Quiero Caminarrdquo for solo guitar Sheet music in notation and tabs are FREE here

This issuersquos videos are dedicated to the late great Paco de Lucia

1)What does Flamenco mean to youFlamenco is the art form with which I express myself It is the form through which I understand the world and the form on which my crea-tivity is based

2)What was it like growing up HuelvaHuelva is a small place almost se-cluded from the rest of Andaluciacutea For the most part Huelva faces west (Iberoamerica and Portugal) rather than the interior of Spain Itrsquos a city of sailors and people from the north-ern part of the province from the mountainous regions where the folk-lore the dances and music have pre-Christian and medieval roots The sound of the Fandango the singers (cantaores) in the taverns the aficio-

nados in the bars the house parties and the many popular melodies (tonas) were all part of the soundtrack of my childhood

The music culture of this province is very rich and offered me a very fresh and different per-spective on flamenco music I always say that the sound of Huelva is a mix of ocean horses wines mountains and bandits all neatly packaged in a nostalgia that constantly embraces the past

3)Who would you say were your earliest influencesMy father was a huge aficionado of the singing (cante) and the flamenco guitar This sounds

of the singing and flamenco guitar became part of the normal sounds I grew up with at home As a child I had a couple of teachers aficionados to the Fandango de Huelva However in reality my first formal teacher was Antonio Sousa He used to give me classes and take me to the flamenco festivals where he would perform and take me backstage where I learned how to listen to fla-menco cante sung by the greatest artist of that era

Later I became part of the ldquoPentildea Flamenca de Huleva where I use to accompany the sing-ing for different artist and aficionados who would go by there on a regular basis In the Pentildea Fla-

4

JOSE LUIS RODRIGUEZInterview by Berto Boyd Official websiteWatch Bulerias Watch Seguiriyas

menca flamenco talk was continuous There were hours of singing explanations of the different cantes and a variety of anecdotes surrounding the different styles of cante

I used to play with the performance troupe of the Pentildea and one day ended up playing with Nintildeo Miguel As a child I knew who he was because at one point he had been a patient of my fa-therrsquos Nintildeo Miguel use to play with such an aggressive style that he used to intimidate other art-ists He used to love to play guitar and would spend hours composing new works and I was there to just follow along

4)What was it like to be the prized pupil of Mario EscuderoIn 1983 I met ldquoMaestrordquo Mario Escudero who later became my teacher and mentor for the

following five years

Mario gave me the opportunity to experience the history of the con-cert flamenco guitar from as early as the 1920s up to 1960 in my own hands His legacy not only gave me a different perspective in re-lation to many of the other guitarist of my generation but also the privilege of seeing and listening to where most of the techniques and forms of composition for the modern guitar came from

Mario was a great composer and instilled in me and my playing a series of important elements a distinct personality a different proc-ess for composition an ability listen to classical music and a method for dissecting classical musicrsquos elements and recomposing them to create a new form of musical expression

5)Can you tell us the story of when you played for SabicasI was about 12 or 13 years old and there was a festival in Huelva where Sabicas came to play

in concert I went out to see him and when it was over I went home My father who was with me decided that he would go with his friends to the Pentildea Flamenca It was about 3 or 4 in the morn-ing when someone called my home My startled mother answered the phone thinking something had happened to my father ldquoYesWhatBut now Hes sleeping What Are you sure Al-righthelliprdquo My mother woke me up and said ldquoGet dressed You need to go this address I will call you a taxi Take your guitarrdquo The whole time I was thinking my dad was probably drunk with his friends and just wanted me to go so that I can play guitar for them I went grudgingly When I got there one of the aficionados of the Pentildea Flamenca came to greet me The men in the Pentildea began shouting ldquoThe boy is hererdquo as they courted me over to a hall where everyone was gathered My fa-ther came over to me with a huge grin on his face

There were cups sherry glasses and bottles of Tio Pepe all over the place Cigarette smoke billowed out of the ash smoking up the place That was the smell of flamenco back then At the bot-tom of the hall like a king on his throne sat Sabicas in a winged chair with his high-class wool suit ldquoThis is the boy Maestrohelliprdquo Sabicas condescendingly asked ldquoHow are you What is your

5

name They tell me you play the guitar very well Would you like to play something for merdquo I was terrified My father with a bright smile and happy for the opportunity Sabicas was offering kept urging me on ldquoCome on now Jose Luis Take out your guitar Donrsquot make us beghelliprdquo

I canrsquot remember what I played I donrsquot know if it was a guajiras or a granaiacutena Later the men asked me to play por Fandangos then a little por Solea with various aficionados singing To-day I can tell this story because I wrote it down in my diary but it is a very faint memory because of how nervous I was

6)I heard you played with the late great El Nintildeo Miguel in a tablao as a teen-ager What was that like and what did it do for your training

Well like I said earlier One day while I was in the Pentildea Flamenca they asked me to play for the dancers and singers with Nintildeo Miguel That ldquospecial schizophrenic manrdquo whom my father would tell me so much about was always smiling and would often say incoherent phrases Miguel used to love competitive games that consisted of countless amount of time composing and evolv-ing musical ideas He use to find base musical ideas from which to start and then would tell mehellip ldquoI got it my friendrdquo I would learn it and he would say ldquoNow you do somethingrdquo I would play the first thing that would come to my hands Then he would learn what I played and would continue composing a new piece to what I played We would spend hours playing like this I use to just play the game I wasnrsquot conscious of what I was actually learning So it would become a competi-tion to see who would compose a musical segment faster Of course I would always let him winHahahahahahellip

7)You have a huge work in the making right now called Suite Avalon What can you tell us about it Who are the supporting artists

Avalon is a project that started to evolve and become a reality with this concert I had had in mind the creation of a musical work for orchestra for a long time but because of circumstances I was unable to complete it I then ran into a pianistcomposer Alex Conde whom I was going to work with on a new upcoming performance at the time in California I believe that it was mutual admiration y feeling a bit alone in our trying to create a form of flamenco so distant to the stereo-type that brought us talking about the possibility of collaborating We began with small arrange-ments for a couple of small jobs of mine that included the pianistrsquos new CD and one of my musical projects here in Miami It was then that we started to write a series of arrangements for some gui-tar solos Shortly thereafter we had the opportunity to do a very successful performance in Oak-land with music students of OSA The music students were under the direction of Omid Zou-fonoun who I had the pleasure to meet and work with We continued developing the project until we began receiving the support we needed and here we arehellipcompletely enslaved with the produc-tion

They say when you put things out to the universe the universe conspires in your favor A short time thereafter a beloved friend and student reappeared after almost 8 years of being out of touch We had worked together on several occasions and had developed a meaningful friendship Berto Boyd was designing a webpage that was for private online music lessons which turned out

6

to be the webpage that will be used as my system of teaching guitar online and to demonstrate my form of playing In less than 6 months Robert became involved in project Avalon transcribing the guitar solos and putting together all of the informational texts and videos that will be visible on the web for the online music classes flamencoguitarclasscom

Avalon to me has become a project that can help musicians trained in formal settings and professional musicians better understand flamenco music It will help them better understand mu-sical accents intentions and the movement of the rhythmic structures and will provide an oppor-tunity to create labs or workshops with these musicians These labs and workshop will be taught in a popular and contemporary form that can later be translated into the academic language This is intended give continuity to the work proposed in ldquoAvalonrdquo and is also a way of creating work that transcends what can be considered flamenco repertoire

The project also includes a collaboration with Maestro Federico Britos (violinist) a classi-cally trained individual that has played with the best symphonies of Latin America has received various Grammies and who has a very particular and unique sound Maestro Britos collaborated with me on one of my projects ldquoDe la Esencia y el Tiempordquo and to some extent has become an am-bassador for the project Having his support and affection gives us a great amount of unwavering confidence

7

The rest of the musical team Antonio Camuntildeez (percussion) Rodrigo Valdes (guitar) are dear friends that are always there for me and have involved themselves without wavering

The rest of the production team includes Gabriel Ramirez (Video) Fernando Gonzalez (Ad-visor) Olga Perez (Publicist) Damaris Ferrer (Producer) and Niurca Marquez (Producer Direc-tor and my beloved lifetime partner) Avalon would not be possible without them all

8)What is the history of Flamenco guitar music and orchestration (Who were the guitarists who pioneered this Paco El Nino MiguelManolo Sanlucar)

Some precedents do exist between 1940 and 1950 if I remember correctly Maestro Moreno Torroba did compose some pieces played by Sabicas and others played by Mario Escudero re-corded here in the United States However the compositions were always based on the traditional guitar with a very rigid structure and without a lot of harmonic evolution In the 1970s Maestro Jose Torregrosa was the one who orchestrated various pieces composed by Paco de Lucia and Nintildeo Miguel

Manolo Sanlucar is composed ldquoFantasiardquo for Guitar and Orchestra a concert composed of three movements Later he composed ldquoMedeardquo for the National Ballet of Spain After those com-positions other guitarists composed works with orchestral arrangements as well such as ldquoSuite Sevillardquo by Rafael Riqueni ldquoEl Guitarrista Azulrdquo (The Blue Guitarist) by Jose Antonio Rodriguez ldquoPoetardquo by Vicente Amigordquo etchellip Perhaps some of the most recognized ComposersArranger in this circle would be Joan Albert Amargos and Jose Miguel Evora who have orchestrated many musical pieces over time

9)Did Manolo Sanlucar have a big influence on you growing up in HuelvaThe influence of Paco de Lucia and Manolo Sanlucar for guitarists of my generation is evi-

dent Both Paco del Lucia and Manolo Sanlucar in their own way brought new hand techniques sound formulas and rhythms the revolutionized the guitar of the era Manolo Sanlucar concretely influenced my interest in classical music and the composition of flamenco music for orchestra

10) You wrote a tremendous tremolo section in Suite Avalon that pulls from your childhood musical experience with Mario Escudero did you ever envision per-forming with an orchestra one day using this technique

When I use to think of orchestra more than thinking about musical sections I thought about the sensations I wanted to convey so for that reason I would have to answer ldquoYesrdquo and ldquoNordquo I did not have the vision to create something using the tremolo technique The tremolo is a technique that I like and that I dominate pretty well It allows me to create an emotional environ-ment similar to what an adagio of strings can do and it was this environment that I was after and why I chose to use it

When I was composing ldquoAvalonrdquo I thought I it would be really nice to create a duet with Maestro Federico Britos whose sound is quite unique and has the ability to transport an audience to the beginning of the 20th Century The tremolo technique along with the sound of the violin cre-

8

ates a velvety opaque scruffy wood-like texture that is very particular and that I like a lot for the guitar The tremolo was created based on the environment I was trying to create and was then sup-ported by the idea of a duet At that moment in the composition it marks a before and after be-cause it is a moment where a lot of reflection takes place a place of great spiritual inspiration

11) A big part of the charm of your music is that it is modern but still has ele-ments of the traditional Flamenco that you played as a child do you think guitarists like Tomatito have gone too far with the whole Flamenco and Jazz influence

I believe that in general the guitarists of various generations since Paco de Lucia are pur-suit of a new sound We find ourselves very curious about other genres of music and feel the need to find a new way of expressing ourselves musically without losing our flamenco identity In this process which is an empirical process with constant obstacles and experimentation it is natural to hear everything musically imaginable Only time will set everything in a proper balance In the case of artist like Tomatito Vicente Amigo and many other guitarists I find that they maintain the flamenco tradition and make it surface when they want to so for that reason I donrsquot think we need to question their work

Perhaps the question you are asking has two possible sources for doubting these develop-ments I believe that sometimes flamenco is fused with other genres of music for marketing rea-sons and not as something sought out by the musician This type of marketing reaches a certain type of public but rarely is it every a true growth for the artist

The other question is the thinking that if we donrsquot play certain world-renowned pieces we are not going to be respected or we are not going to be able to reach the same number of audi-ences and so we fuse our music with other genres to accomplish that

In part its true that artists feel obligated to do certain things However once artists give in we end up becoming the product people want us to be rather than who we really are I strongly be-lieve that flamenco has raw potential in and of itself Perhaps the way it is packaged would help but with the awareness doing something new In other words creating new compositions or doing some adaptations based on new sounds on the union of musicians or disciplines not simply do-ing what is always done and just bulking sounds together That takes time though and as I say the only way to know what will remain is to let time run its course

12)Not many flamenco guitarists have ever written an actual Concierto or Suite for guitar and orchestra do you see this as the future frontier of flamenco music

I believe this is one path There are others In fact I believe that there are new technologies and electronic and experimental music that can be a potential musical composition path for fla-menco In the case of classical music I believe it is a musical form of expression that allows a vari-ety of sound colors Consequently this leads to the possibility of encounters with new perform-ance spaces audiences and a new path for creative ideas Nonetheless the essence of flamenco (guitar and cantaor) will always remain in the music

9

13)How is Suite Avalon different than anything youve ever written (You wrote it with the intention of it being with orchestra correct)

The guitar compositions of ldquoAvalonrdquo can work independently as concert pieces The orches-tra is an element that creates a musical component that opens the guitar compositions to orches-tral support The orchestra waits for the guitar to introduce the theme or introduces the theme as the guitar waits The result is a unified compact composition but one that can also function inde-pendently or in a modular format

14)Where did the inspiration for Suite Avalon come fromThe idea of ldquoAvalonrdquo comes from a series of ideas It comes from the necessity of finding

common ground between musicians with formal training and popular musicians It is also born from my own journey in life the leaving of my own country in search of a place where I can de-velop my own compositions and my concert career ldquoAvalonrdquo is an idyllic mystical place we all seek at some moment in our lives Perhaps the interesting part of this search is the discovery that that place is inside of us

15) What guitars are you playing these daysIn my concerts I usually play my 1971 Ramirez On this occasion however I will be playing

a Jorge de Zofia guitar with antique style tuning pegs (clavijero de palillos) for some of the pieces

16) How do you like living in the US now Is it a big change from SpainSometimes itrsquos difficult and sometimes not so much Flamenco is considered something ex-

otic here but at the same time it is very attractive to the American public The cultural shift is huge and we must focus on breaking the preconceptions that many already have about this art form This makes my commitment to my art stronger and as a result I donrsquot tend to dwell on the distance Instead I choose to focus on offering flamenco from a place of honesty thereby opening door or those who will come after me

17) Given the current economical crisis in Spain do you see other guitarists wanting to move here

It is very possible some with the intention of staying and others with the intention to even-tually return to Spain Moments of crisis always lead to movement

18)Where do you see yourself going with your musicWherever life takes me as long as I can express my emotions with my guitar

19)Whats the future look like for flamenco and Jose Luis RodriguezWho knowshellipthe future is yet to come I believe that right now we have to learn to balance

all that we have gathered in the last 30 years in musical technical and compositional terms Cre-ating new forms without losing the original essence of flamenco is an accomplishment in and of

10

itself The death of Paco de Lucia Camaron de la Isla and Enrique Morente have resulted in a pause to a certain level and has caused us to re-examine flamenco from a technical and interpreta-tive stand point We will be able to see how flamenco evolves as time goes by

20) Any other projects youd like to mentionThis year has brought three large projects to which I would like to give continuity

First is ldquoAvalonrdquo which is not only a concert but also a series of workshops and labs with musicians and youth to create a hybrid musical language with which flamenco can be better under-stood It is my hope that new concert pieces for guitar and orchestra in different musical forms and presentation formats will evolve out of these labs

Secondly I am composing the music for a new movie called ldquo Finding Compassrdquo directed by Kathy Douglas who is collaborating with several well known American flamenco artists and with Spanish flamenco artist Farruquito as a guest artist I believe it is a very good opportunity to dem-onstrate the way that flamenco can enrich our lives at a subtle level outside of the stereotypes of the ldquopassion and firerdquo in the framework of a movie that speaks of our everyday lives

The third and last is a teaching-learning project titled

wwwFLAMENCOGUITARCLASScom Its purpose is showcase Flamenco in a holistic manner through popular forms of learning The platform will include many explanations about the culture and the historical context as well as information about the rhythms melodies and structures

Our intention is to go beyond rhythms melodies and technique to pass on the legacy that Mario Escudero Nintildeo Ricardo and others have left for us Irsquom very excited about this project and Irsquoll be accompanied by other great artists like Berto Boyd and Gabriel Ramirez who are working on the scores and writing all the details for the website

11

name They tell me you play the guitar very well Would you like to play something for merdquo I was terrified My father with a bright smile and happy for the opportunity Sabicas was offering kept urging me on ldquoCome on now Jose Luis Take out your guitar Donrsquot make us beghelliprdquo

I canrsquot remember what I played I donrsquot know if it was a guajiras or a granaiacutena Later the men asked me to play por Fandangos then a little por Solea with various aficionados singing To-day I can tell this story because I wrote it down in my diary but it is a very faint memory because of how nervous I was

6)I heard you played with the late great El Nintildeo Miguel in a tablao as a teen-ager What was that like and what did it do for your training

Well like I said earlier One day while I was in the Pentildea Flamenca they asked me to play for the dancers and singers with Nintildeo Miguel That ldquospecial schizophrenic manrdquo whom my father would tell me so much about was always smiling and would often say incoherent phrases Miguel used to love competitive games that consisted of countless amount of time composing and evolv-ing musical ideas He use to find base musical ideas from which to start and then would tell mehellip ldquoI got it my friendrdquo I would learn it and he would say ldquoNow you do somethingrdquo I would play the first thing that would come to my hands Then he would learn what I played and would continue composing a new piece to what I played We would spend hours playing like this I use to just play the game I wasnrsquot conscious of what I was actually learning So it would become a competi-tion to see who would compose a musical segment faster Of course I would always let him winHahahahahahellip

7)You have a huge work in the making right now called Suite Avalon What can you tell us about it Who are the supporting artists

Avalon is a project that started to evolve and become a reality with this concert I had had in mind the creation of a musical work for orchestra for a long time but because of circumstances I was unable to complete it I then ran into a pianistcomposer Alex Conde whom I was going to work with on a new upcoming performance at the time in California I believe that it was mutual admiration y feeling a bit alone in our trying to create a form of flamenco so distant to the stereo-type that brought us talking about the possibility of collaborating We began with small arrange-ments for a couple of small jobs of mine that included the pianistrsquos new CD and one of my musical projects here in Miami It was then that we started to write a series of arrangements for some gui-tar solos Shortly thereafter we had the opportunity to do a very successful performance in Oak-land with music students of OSA The music students were under the direction of Omid Zou-fonoun who I had the pleasure to meet and work with We continued developing the project until we began receiving the support we needed and here we arehellipcompletely enslaved with the produc-tion

They say when you put things out to the universe the universe conspires in your favor A short time thereafter a beloved friend and student reappeared after almost 8 years of being out of touch We had worked together on several occasions and had developed a meaningful friendship Berto Boyd was designing a webpage that was for private online music lessons which turned out

6

to be the webpage that will be used as my system of teaching guitar online and to demonstrate my form of playing In less than 6 months Robert became involved in project Avalon transcribing the guitar solos and putting together all of the informational texts and videos that will be visible on the web for the online music classes flamencoguitarclasscom

Avalon to me has become a project that can help musicians trained in formal settings and professional musicians better understand flamenco music It will help them better understand mu-sical accents intentions and the movement of the rhythmic structures and will provide an oppor-tunity to create labs or workshops with these musicians These labs and workshop will be taught in a popular and contemporary form that can later be translated into the academic language This is intended give continuity to the work proposed in ldquoAvalonrdquo and is also a way of creating work that transcends what can be considered flamenco repertoire

The project also includes a collaboration with Maestro Federico Britos (violinist) a classi-cally trained individual that has played with the best symphonies of Latin America has received various Grammies and who has a very particular and unique sound Maestro Britos collaborated with me on one of my projects ldquoDe la Esencia y el Tiempordquo and to some extent has become an am-bassador for the project Having his support and affection gives us a great amount of unwavering confidence

7

The rest of the musical team Antonio Camuntildeez (percussion) Rodrigo Valdes (guitar) are dear friends that are always there for me and have involved themselves without wavering

The rest of the production team includes Gabriel Ramirez (Video) Fernando Gonzalez (Ad-visor) Olga Perez (Publicist) Damaris Ferrer (Producer) and Niurca Marquez (Producer Direc-tor and my beloved lifetime partner) Avalon would not be possible without them all

8)What is the history of Flamenco guitar music and orchestration (Who were the guitarists who pioneered this Paco El Nino MiguelManolo Sanlucar)

Some precedents do exist between 1940 and 1950 if I remember correctly Maestro Moreno Torroba did compose some pieces played by Sabicas and others played by Mario Escudero re-corded here in the United States However the compositions were always based on the traditional guitar with a very rigid structure and without a lot of harmonic evolution In the 1970s Maestro Jose Torregrosa was the one who orchestrated various pieces composed by Paco de Lucia and Nintildeo Miguel

Manolo Sanlucar is composed ldquoFantasiardquo for Guitar and Orchestra a concert composed of three movements Later he composed ldquoMedeardquo for the National Ballet of Spain After those com-positions other guitarists composed works with orchestral arrangements as well such as ldquoSuite Sevillardquo by Rafael Riqueni ldquoEl Guitarrista Azulrdquo (The Blue Guitarist) by Jose Antonio Rodriguez ldquoPoetardquo by Vicente Amigordquo etchellip Perhaps some of the most recognized ComposersArranger in this circle would be Joan Albert Amargos and Jose Miguel Evora who have orchestrated many musical pieces over time

9)Did Manolo Sanlucar have a big influence on you growing up in HuelvaThe influence of Paco de Lucia and Manolo Sanlucar for guitarists of my generation is evi-

dent Both Paco del Lucia and Manolo Sanlucar in their own way brought new hand techniques sound formulas and rhythms the revolutionized the guitar of the era Manolo Sanlucar concretely influenced my interest in classical music and the composition of flamenco music for orchestra

10) You wrote a tremendous tremolo section in Suite Avalon that pulls from your childhood musical experience with Mario Escudero did you ever envision per-forming with an orchestra one day using this technique

When I use to think of orchestra more than thinking about musical sections I thought about the sensations I wanted to convey so for that reason I would have to answer ldquoYesrdquo and ldquoNordquo I did not have the vision to create something using the tremolo technique The tremolo is a technique that I like and that I dominate pretty well It allows me to create an emotional environ-ment similar to what an adagio of strings can do and it was this environment that I was after and why I chose to use it

When I was composing ldquoAvalonrdquo I thought I it would be really nice to create a duet with Maestro Federico Britos whose sound is quite unique and has the ability to transport an audience to the beginning of the 20th Century The tremolo technique along with the sound of the violin cre-

8

ates a velvety opaque scruffy wood-like texture that is very particular and that I like a lot for the guitar The tremolo was created based on the environment I was trying to create and was then sup-ported by the idea of a duet At that moment in the composition it marks a before and after be-cause it is a moment where a lot of reflection takes place a place of great spiritual inspiration

11) A big part of the charm of your music is that it is modern but still has ele-ments of the traditional Flamenco that you played as a child do you think guitarists like Tomatito have gone too far with the whole Flamenco and Jazz influence

I believe that in general the guitarists of various generations since Paco de Lucia are pur-suit of a new sound We find ourselves very curious about other genres of music and feel the need to find a new way of expressing ourselves musically without losing our flamenco identity In this process which is an empirical process with constant obstacles and experimentation it is natural to hear everything musically imaginable Only time will set everything in a proper balance In the case of artist like Tomatito Vicente Amigo and many other guitarists I find that they maintain the flamenco tradition and make it surface when they want to so for that reason I donrsquot think we need to question their work

Perhaps the question you are asking has two possible sources for doubting these develop-ments I believe that sometimes flamenco is fused with other genres of music for marketing rea-sons and not as something sought out by the musician This type of marketing reaches a certain type of public but rarely is it every a true growth for the artist

The other question is the thinking that if we donrsquot play certain world-renowned pieces we are not going to be respected or we are not going to be able to reach the same number of audi-ences and so we fuse our music with other genres to accomplish that

In part its true that artists feel obligated to do certain things However once artists give in we end up becoming the product people want us to be rather than who we really are I strongly be-lieve that flamenco has raw potential in and of itself Perhaps the way it is packaged would help but with the awareness doing something new In other words creating new compositions or doing some adaptations based on new sounds on the union of musicians or disciplines not simply do-ing what is always done and just bulking sounds together That takes time though and as I say the only way to know what will remain is to let time run its course

12)Not many flamenco guitarists have ever written an actual Concierto or Suite for guitar and orchestra do you see this as the future frontier of flamenco music

I believe this is one path There are others In fact I believe that there are new technologies and electronic and experimental music that can be a potential musical composition path for fla-menco In the case of classical music I believe it is a musical form of expression that allows a vari-ety of sound colors Consequently this leads to the possibility of encounters with new perform-ance spaces audiences and a new path for creative ideas Nonetheless the essence of flamenco (guitar and cantaor) will always remain in the music

9

13)How is Suite Avalon different than anything youve ever written (You wrote it with the intention of it being with orchestra correct)

The guitar compositions of ldquoAvalonrdquo can work independently as concert pieces The orches-tra is an element that creates a musical component that opens the guitar compositions to orches-tral support The orchestra waits for the guitar to introduce the theme or introduces the theme as the guitar waits The result is a unified compact composition but one that can also function inde-pendently or in a modular format

14)Where did the inspiration for Suite Avalon come fromThe idea of ldquoAvalonrdquo comes from a series of ideas It comes from the necessity of finding

common ground between musicians with formal training and popular musicians It is also born from my own journey in life the leaving of my own country in search of a place where I can de-velop my own compositions and my concert career ldquoAvalonrdquo is an idyllic mystical place we all seek at some moment in our lives Perhaps the interesting part of this search is the discovery that that place is inside of us

15) What guitars are you playing these daysIn my concerts I usually play my 1971 Ramirez On this occasion however I will be playing

a Jorge de Zofia guitar with antique style tuning pegs (clavijero de palillos) for some of the pieces

16) How do you like living in the US now Is it a big change from SpainSometimes itrsquos difficult and sometimes not so much Flamenco is considered something ex-

otic here but at the same time it is very attractive to the American public The cultural shift is huge and we must focus on breaking the preconceptions that many already have about this art form This makes my commitment to my art stronger and as a result I donrsquot tend to dwell on the distance Instead I choose to focus on offering flamenco from a place of honesty thereby opening door or those who will come after me

17) Given the current economical crisis in Spain do you see other guitarists wanting to move here

It is very possible some with the intention of staying and others with the intention to even-tually return to Spain Moments of crisis always lead to movement

18)Where do you see yourself going with your musicWherever life takes me as long as I can express my emotions with my guitar

19)Whats the future look like for flamenco and Jose Luis RodriguezWho knowshellipthe future is yet to come I believe that right now we have to learn to balance

all that we have gathered in the last 30 years in musical technical and compositional terms Cre-ating new forms without losing the original essence of flamenco is an accomplishment in and of

10

itself The death of Paco de Lucia Camaron de la Isla and Enrique Morente have resulted in a pause to a certain level and has caused us to re-examine flamenco from a technical and interpreta-tive stand point We will be able to see how flamenco evolves as time goes by

20) Any other projects youd like to mentionThis year has brought three large projects to which I would like to give continuity

First is ldquoAvalonrdquo which is not only a concert but also a series of workshops and labs with musicians and youth to create a hybrid musical language with which flamenco can be better under-stood It is my hope that new concert pieces for guitar and orchestra in different musical forms and presentation formats will evolve out of these labs

Secondly I am composing the music for a new movie called ldquo Finding Compassrdquo directed by Kathy Douglas who is collaborating with several well known American flamenco artists and with Spanish flamenco artist Farruquito as a guest artist I believe it is a very good opportunity to dem-onstrate the way that flamenco can enrich our lives at a subtle level outside of the stereotypes of the ldquopassion and firerdquo in the framework of a movie that speaks of our everyday lives

The third and last is a teaching-learning project titled

wwwFLAMENCOGUITARCLASScom Its purpose is showcase Flamenco in a holistic manner through popular forms of learning The platform will include many explanations about the culture and the historical context as well as information about the rhythms melodies and structures

Our intention is to go beyond rhythms melodies and technique to pass on the legacy that Mario Escudero Nintildeo Ricardo and others have left for us Irsquom very excited about this project and Irsquoll be accompanied by other great artists like Berto Boyd and Gabriel Ramirez who are working on the scores and writing all the details for the website

11

to be the webpage that will be used as my system of teaching guitar online and to demonstrate my form of playing In less than 6 months Robert became involved in project Avalon transcribing the guitar solos and putting together all of the informational texts and videos that will be visible on the web for the online music classes flamencoguitarclasscom

Avalon to me has become a project that can help musicians trained in formal settings and professional musicians better understand flamenco music It will help them better understand mu-sical accents intentions and the movement of the rhythmic structures and will provide an oppor-tunity to create labs or workshops with these musicians These labs and workshop will be taught in a popular and contemporary form that can later be translated into the academic language This is intended give continuity to the work proposed in ldquoAvalonrdquo and is also a way of creating work that transcends what can be considered flamenco repertoire

The project also includes a collaboration with Maestro Federico Britos (violinist) a classi-cally trained individual that has played with the best symphonies of Latin America has received various Grammies and who has a very particular and unique sound Maestro Britos collaborated with me on one of my projects ldquoDe la Esencia y el Tiempordquo and to some extent has become an am-bassador for the project Having his support and affection gives us a great amount of unwavering confidence

7

The rest of the musical team Antonio Camuntildeez (percussion) Rodrigo Valdes (guitar) are dear friends that are always there for me and have involved themselves without wavering

The rest of the production team includes Gabriel Ramirez (Video) Fernando Gonzalez (Ad-visor) Olga Perez (Publicist) Damaris Ferrer (Producer) and Niurca Marquez (Producer Direc-tor and my beloved lifetime partner) Avalon would not be possible without them all

8)What is the history of Flamenco guitar music and orchestration (Who were the guitarists who pioneered this Paco El Nino MiguelManolo Sanlucar)

Some precedents do exist between 1940 and 1950 if I remember correctly Maestro Moreno Torroba did compose some pieces played by Sabicas and others played by Mario Escudero re-corded here in the United States However the compositions were always based on the traditional guitar with a very rigid structure and without a lot of harmonic evolution In the 1970s Maestro Jose Torregrosa was the one who orchestrated various pieces composed by Paco de Lucia and Nintildeo Miguel

Manolo Sanlucar is composed ldquoFantasiardquo for Guitar and Orchestra a concert composed of three movements Later he composed ldquoMedeardquo for the National Ballet of Spain After those com-positions other guitarists composed works with orchestral arrangements as well such as ldquoSuite Sevillardquo by Rafael Riqueni ldquoEl Guitarrista Azulrdquo (The Blue Guitarist) by Jose Antonio Rodriguez ldquoPoetardquo by Vicente Amigordquo etchellip Perhaps some of the most recognized ComposersArranger in this circle would be Joan Albert Amargos and Jose Miguel Evora who have orchestrated many musical pieces over time

9)Did Manolo Sanlucar have a big influence on you growing up in HuelvaThe influence of Paco de Lucia and Manolo Sanlucar for guitarists of my generation is evi-

dent Both Paco del Lucia and Manolo Sanlucar in their own way brought new hand techniques sound formulas and rhythms the revolutionized the guitar of the era Manolo Sanlucar concretely influenced my interest in classical music and the composition of flamenco music for orchestra

10) You wrote a tremendous tremolo section in Suite Avalon that pulls from your childhood musical experience with Mario Escudero did you ever envision per-forming with an orchestra one day using this technique

When I use to think of orchestra more than thinking about musical sections I thought about the sensations I wanted to convey so for that reason I would have to answer ldquoYesrdquo and ldquoNordquo I did not have the vision to create something using the tremolo technique The tremolo is a technique that I like and that I dominate pretty well It allows me to create an emotional environ-ment similar to what an adagio of strings can do and it was this environment that I was after and why I chose to use it

When I was composing ldquoAvalonrdquo I thought I it would be really nice to create a duet with Maestro Federico Britos whose sound is quite unique and has the ability to transport an audience to the beginning of the 20th Century The tremolo technique along with the sound of the violin cre-

8

ates a velvety opaque scruffy wood-like texture that is very particular and that I like a lot for the guitar The tremolo was created based on the environment I was trying to create and was then sup-ported by the idea of a duet At that moment in the composition it marks a before and after be-cause it is a moment where a lot of reflection takes place a place of great spiritual inspiration

11) A big part of the charm of your music is that it is modern but still has ele-ments of the traditional Flamenco that you played as a child do you think guitarists like Tomatito have gone too far with the whole Flamenco and Jazz influence

I believe that in general the guitarists of various generations since Paco de Lucia are pur-suit of a new sound We find ourselves very curious about other genres of music and feel the need to find a new way of expressing ourselves musically without losing our flamenco identity In this process which is an empirical process with constant obstacles and experimentation it is natural to hear everything musically imaginable Only time will set everything in a proper balance In the case of artist like Tomatito Vicente Amigo and many other guitarists I find that they maintain the flamenco tradition and make it surface when they want to so for that reason I donrsquot think we need to question their work

Perhaps the question you are asking has two possible sources for doubting these develop-ments I believe that sometimes flamenco is fused with other genres of music for marketing rea-sons and not as something sought out by the musician This type of marketing reaches a certain type of public but rarely is it every a true growth for the artist

The other question is the thinking that if we donrsquot play certain world-renowned pieces we are not going to be respected or we are not going to be able to reach the same number of audi-ences and so we fuse our music with other genres to accomplish that

In part its true that artists feel obligated to do certain things However once artists give in we end up becoming the product people want us to be rather than who we really are I strongly be-lieve that flamenco has raw potential in and of itself Perhaps the way it is packaged would help but with the awareness doing something new In other words creating new compositions or doing some adaptations based on new sounds on the union of musicians or disciplines not simply do-ing what is always done and just bulking sounds together That takes time though and as I say the only way to know what will remain is to let time run its course

12)Not many flamenco guitarists have ever written an actual Concierto or Suite for guitar and orchestra do you see this as the future frontier of flamenco music

I believe this is one path There are others In fact I believe that there are new technologies and electronic and experimental music that can be a potential musical composition path for fla-menco In the case of classical music I believe it is a musical form of expression that allows a vari-ety of sound colors Consequently this leads to the possibility of encounters with new perform-ance spaces audiences and a new path for creative ideas Nonetheless the essence of flamenco (guitar and cantaor) will always remain in the music

9

13)How is Suite Avalon different than anything youve ever written (You wrote it with the intention of it being with orchestra correct)

The guitar compositions of ldquoAvalonrdquo can work independently as concert pieces The orches-tra is an element that creates a musical component that opens the guitar compositions to orches-tral support The orchestra waits for the guitar to introduce the theme or introduces the theme as the guitar waits The result is a unified compact composition but one that can also function inde-pendently or in a modular format

14)Where did the inspiration for Suite Avalon come fromThe idea of ldquoAvalonrdquo comes from a series of ideas It comes from the necessity of finding

common ground between musicians with formal training and popular musicians It is also born from my own journey in life the leaving of my own country in search of a place where I can de-velop my own compositions and my concert career ldquoAvalonrdquo is an idyllic mystical place we all seek at some moment in our lives Perhaps the interesting part of this search is the discovery that that place is inside of us

15) What guitars are you playing these daysIn my concerts I usually play my 1971 Ramirez On this occasion however I will be playing

a Jorge de Zofia guitar with antique style tuning pegs (clavijero de palillos) for some of the pieces

16) How do you like living in the US now Is it a big change from SpainSometimes itrsquos difficult and sometimes not so much Flamenco is considered something ex-

otic here but at the same time it is very attractive to the American public The cultural shift is huge and we must focus on breaking the preconceptions that many already have about this art form This makes my commitment to my art stronger and as a result I donrsquot tend to dwell on the distance Instead I choose to focus on offering flamenco from a place of honesty thereby opening door or those who will come after me

17) Given the current economical crisis in Spain do you see other guitarists wanting to move here

It is very possible some with the intention of staying and others with the intention to even-tually return to Spain Moments of crisis always lead to movement

18)Where do you see yourself going with your musicWherever life takes me as long as I can express my emotions with my guitar

19)Whats the future look like for flamenco and Jose Luis RodriguezWho knowshellipthe future is yet to come I believe that right now we have to learn to balance

all that we have gathered in the last 30 years in musical technical and compositional terms Cre-ating new forms without losing the original essence of flamenco is an accomplishment in and of

10

itself The death of Paco de Lucia Camaron de la Isla and Enrique Morente have resulted in a pause to a certain level and has caused us to re-examine flamenco from a technical and interpreta-tive stand point We will be able to see how flamenco evolves as time goes by

20) Any other projects youd like to mentionThis year has brought three large projects to which I would like to give continuity

First is ldquoAvalonrdquo which is not only a concert but also a series of workshops and labs with musicians and youth to create a hybrid musical language with which flamenco can be better under-stood It is my hope that new concert pieces for guitar and orchestra in different musical forms and presentation formats will evolve out of these labs

Secondly I am composing the music for a new movie called ldquo Finding Compassrdquo directed by Kathy Douglas who is collaborating with several well known American flamenco artists and with Spanish flamenco artist Farruquito as a guest artist I believe it is a very good opportunity to dem-onstrate the way that flamenco can enrich our lives at a subtle level outside of the stereotypes of the ldquopassion and firerdquo in the framework of a movie that speaks of our everyday lives

The third and last is a teaching-learning project titled

wwwFLAMENCOGUITARCLASScom Its purpose is showcase Flamenco in a holistic manner through popular forms of learning The platform will include many explanations about the culture and the historical context as well as information about the rhythms melodies and structures

Our intention is to go beyond rhythms melodies and technique to pass on the legacy that Mario Escudero Nintildeo Ricardo and others have left for us Irsquom very excited about this project and Irsquoll be accompanied by other great artists like Berto Boyd and Gabriel Ramirez who are working on the scores and writing all the details for the website

11

The rest of the musical team Antonio Camuntildeez (percussion) Rodrigo Valdes (guitar) are dear friends that are always there for me and have involved themselves without wavering

The rest of the production team includes Gabriel Ramirez (Video) Fernando Gonzalez (Ad-visor) Olga Perez (Publicist) Damaris Ferrer (Producer) and Niurca Marquez (Producer Direc-tor and my beloved lifetime partner) Avalon would not be possible without them all

8)What is the history of Flamenco guitar music and orchestration (Who were the guitarists who pioneered this Paco El Nino MiguelManolo Sanlucar)

Some precedents do exist between 1940 and 1950 if I remember correctly Maestro Moreno Torroba did compose some pieces played by Sabicas and others played by Mario Escudero re-corded here in the United States However the compositions were always based on the traditional guitar with a very rigid structure and without a lot of harmonic evolution In the 1970s Maestro Jose Torregrosa was the one who orchestrated various pieces composed by Paco de Lucia and Nintildeo Miguel

Manolo Sanlucar is composed ldquoFantasiardquo for Guitar and Orchestra a concert composed of three movements Later he composed ldquoMedeardquo for the National Ballet of Spain After those com-positions other guitarists composed works with orchestral arrangements as well such as ldquoSuite Sevillardquo by Rafael Riqueni ldquoEl Guitarrista Azulrdquo (The Blue Guitarist) by Jose Antonio Rodriguez ldquoPoetardquo by Vicente Amigordquo etchellip Perhaps some of the most recognized ComposersArranger in this circle would be Joan Albert Amargos and Jose Miguel Evora who have orchestrated many musical pieces over time

9)Did Manolo Sanlucar have a big influence on you growing up in HuelvaThe influence of Paco de Lucia and Manolo Sanlucar for guitarists of my generation is evi-

dent Both Paco del Lucia and Manolo Sanlucar in their own way brought new hand techniques sound formulas and rhythms the revolutionized the guitar of the era Manolo Sanlucar concretely influenced my interest in classical music and the composition of flamenco music for orchestra

10) You wrote a tremendous tremolo section in Suite Avalon that pulls from your childhood musical experience with Mario Escudero did you ever envision per-forming with an orchestra one day using this technique

When I use to think of orchestra more than thinking about musical sections I thought about the sensations I wanted to convey so for that reason I would have to answer ldquoYesrdquo and ldquoNordquo I did not have the vision to create something using the tremolo technique The tremolo is a technique that I like and that I dominate pretty well It allows me to create an emotional environ-ment similar to what an adagio of strings can do and it was this environment that I was after and why I chose to use it

When I was composing ldquoAvalonrdquo I thought I it would be really nice to create a duet with Maestro Federico Britos whose sound is quite unique and has the ability to transport an audience to the beginning of the 20th Century The tremolo technique along with the sound of the violin cre-

8

ates a velvety opaque scruffy wood-like texture that is very particular and that I like a lot for the guitar The tremolo was created based on the environment I was trying to create and was then sup-ported by the idea of a duet At that moment in the composition it marks a before and after be-cause it is a moment where a lot of reflection takes place a place of great spiritual inspiration

11) A big part of the charm of your music is that it is modern but still has ele-ments of the traditional Flamenco that you played as a child do you think guitarists like Tomatito have gone too far with the whole Flamenco and Jazz influence

I believe that in general the guitarists of various generations since Paco de Lucia are pur-suit of a new sound We find ourselves very curious about other genres of music and feel the need to find a new way of expressing ourselves musically without losing our flamenco identity In this process which is an empirical process with constant obstacles and experimentation it is natural to hear everything musically imaginable Only time will set everything in a proper balance In the case of artist like Tomatito Vicente Amigo and many other guitarists I find that they maintain the flamenco tradition and make it surface when they want to so for that reason I donrsquot think we need to question their work

Perhaps the question you are asking has two possible sources for doubting these develop-ments I believe that sometimes flamenco is fused with other genres of music for marketing rea-sons and not as something sought out by the musician This type of marketing reaches a certain type of public but rarely is it every a true growth for the artist

The other question is the thinking that if we donrsquot play certain world-renowned pieces we are not going to be respected or we are not going to be able to reach the same number of audi-ences and so we fuse our music with other genres to accomplish that

In part its true that artists feel obligated to do certain things However once artists give in we end up becoming the product people want us to be rather than who we really are I strongly be-lieve that flamenco has raw potential in and of itself Perhaps the way it is packaged would help but with the awareness doing something new In other words creating new compositions or doing some adaptations based on new sounds on the union of musicians or disciplines not simply do-ing what is always done and just bulking sounds together That takes time though and as I say the only way to know what will remain is to let time run its course

12)Not many flamenco guitarists have ever written an actual Concierto or Suite for guitar and orchestra do you see this as the future frontier of flamenco music

I believe this is one path There are others In fact I believe that there are new technologies and electronic and experimental music that can be a potential musical composition path for fla-menco In the case of classical music I believe it is a musical form of expression that allows a vari-ety of sound colors Consequently this leads to the possibility of encounters with new perform-ance spaces audiences and a new path for creative ideas Nonetheless the essence of flamenco (guitar and cantaor) will always remain in the music

9

13)How is Suite Avalon different than anything youve ever written (You wrote it with the intention of it being with orchestra correct)

The guitar compositions of ldquoAvalonrdquo can work independently as concert pieces The orches-tra is an element that creates a musical component that opens the guitar compositions to orches-tral support The orchestra waits for the guitar to introduce the theme or introduces the theme as the guitar waits The result is a unified compact composition but one that can also function inde-pendently or in a modular format

14)Where did the inspiration for Suite Avalon come fromThe idea of ldquoAvalonrdquo comes from a series of ideas It comes from the necessity of finding

common ground between musicians with formal training and popular musicians It is also born from my own journey in life the leaving of my own country in search of a place where I can de-velop my own compositions and my concert career ldquoAvalonrdquo is an idyllic mystical place we all seek at some moment in our lives Perhaps the interesting part of this search is the discovery that that place is inside of us

15) What guitars are you playing these daysIn my concerts I usually play my 1971 Ramirez On this occasion however I will be playing

a Jorge de Zofia guitar with antique style tuning pegs (clavijero de palillos) for some of the pieces

16) How do you like living in the US now Is it a big change from SpainSometimes itrsquos difficult and sometimes not so much Flamenco is considered something ex-

otic here but at the same time it is very attractive to the American public The cultural shift is huge and we must focus on breaking the preconceptions that many already have about this art form This makes my commitment to my art stronger and as a result I donrsquot tend to dwell on the distance Instead I choose to focus on offering flamenco from a place of honesty thereby opening door or those who will come after me

17) Given the current economical crisis in Spain do you see other guitarists wanting to move here

It is very possible some with the intention of staying and others with the intention to even-tually return to Spain Moments of crisis always lead to movement

18)Where do you see yourself going with your musicWherever life takes me as long as I can express my emotions with my guitar

19)Whats the future look like for flamenco and Jose Luis RodriguezWho knowshellipthe future is yet to come I believe that right now we have to learn to balance

all that we have gathered in the last 30 years in musical technical and compositional terms Cre-ating new forms without losing the original essence of flamenco is an accomplishment in and of

10

itself The death of Paco de Lucia Camaron de la Isla and Enrique Morente have resulted in a pause to a certain level and has caused us to re-examine flamenco from a technical and interpreta-tive stand point We will be able to see how flamenco evolves as time goes by

20) Any other projects youd like to mentionThis year has brought three large projects to which I would like to give continuity

First is ldquoAvalonrdquo which is not only a concert but also a series of workshops and labs with musicians and youth to create a hybrid musical language with which flamenco can be better under-stood It is my hope that new concert pieces for guitar and orchestra in different musical forms and presentation formats will evolve out of these labs

Secondly I am composing the music for a new movie called ldquo Finding Compassrdquo directed by Kathy Douglas who is collaborating with several well known American flamenco artists and with Spanish flamenco artist Farruquito as a guest artist I believe it is a very good opportunity to dem-onstrate the way that flamenco can enrich our lives at a subtle level outside of the stereotypes of the ldquopassion and firerdquo in the framework of a movie that speaks of our everyday lives

The third and last is a teaching-learning project titled

wwwFLAMENCOGUITARCLASScom Its purpose is showcase Flamenco in a holistic manner through popular forms of learning The platform will include many explanations about the culture and the historical context as well as information about the rhythms melodies and structures

Our intention is to go beyond rhythms melodies and technique to pass on the legacy that Mario Escudero Nintildeo Ricardo and others have left for us Irsquom very excited about this project and Irsquoll be accompanied by other great artists like Berto Boyd and Gabriel Ramirez who are working on the scores and writing all the details for the website

11

ates a velvety opaque scruffy wood-like texture that is very particular and that I like a lot for the guitar The tremolo was created based on the environment I was trying to create and was then sup-ported by the idea of a duet At that moment in the composition it marks a before and after be-cause it is a moment where a lot of reflection takes place a place of great spiritual inspiration

11) A big part of the charm of your music is that it is modern but still has ele-ments of the traditional Flamenco that you played as a child do you think guitarists like Tomatito have gone too far with the whole Flamenco and Jazz influence

I believe that in general the guitarists of various generations since Paco de Lucia are pur-suit of a new sound We find ourselves very curious about other genres of music and feel the need to find a new way of expressing ourselves musically without losing our flamenco identity In this process which is an empirical process with constant obstacles and experimentation it is natural to hear everything musically imaginable Only time will set everything in a proper balance In the case of artist like Tomatito Vicente Amigo and many other guitarists I find that they maintain the flamenco tradition and make it surface when they want to so for that reason I donrsquot think we need to question their work

Perhaps the question you are asking has two possible sources for doubting these develop-ments I believe that sometimes flamenco is fused with other genres of music for marketing rea-sons and not as something sought out by the musician This type of marketing reaches a certain type of public but rarely is it every a true growth for the artist

The other question is the thinking that if we donrsquot play certain world-renowned pieces we are not going to be respected or we are not going to be able to reach the same number of audi-ences and so we fuse our music with other genres to accomplish that

In part its true that artists feel obligated to do certain things However once artists give in we end up becoming the product people want us to be rather than who we really are I strongly be-lieve that flamenco has raw potential in and of itself Perhaps the way it is packaged would help but with the awareness doing something new In other words creating new compositions or doing some adaptations based on new sounds on the union of musicians or disciplines not simply do-ing what is always done and just bulking sounds together That takes time though and as I say the only way to know what will remain is to let time run its course

12)Not many flamenco guitarists have ever written an actual Concierto or Suite for guitar and orchestra do you see this as the future frontier of flamenco music

I believe this is one path There are others In fact I believe that there are new technologies and electronic and experimental music that can be a potential musical composition path for fla-menco In the case of classical music I believe it is a musical form of expression that allows a vari-ety of sound colors Consequently this leads to the possibility of encounters with new perform-ance spaces audiences and a new path for creative ideas Nonetheless the essence of flamenco (guitar and cantaor) will always remain in the music

9

13)How is Suite Avalon different than anything youve ever written (You wrote it with the intention of it being with orchestra correct)

The guitar compositions of ldquoAvalonrdquo can work independently as concert pieces The orches-tra is an element that creates a musical component that opens the guitar compositions to orches-tral support The orchestra waits for the guitar to introduce the theme or introduces the theme as the guitar waits The result is a unified compact composition but one that can also function inde-pendently or in a modular format

14)Where did the inspiration for Suite Avalon come fromThe idea of ldquoAvalonrdquo comes from a series of ideas It comes from the necessity of finding

common ground between musicians with formal training and popular musicians It is also born from my own journey in life the leaving of my own country in search of a place where I can de-velop my own compositions and my concert career ldquoAvalonrdquo is an idyllic mystical place we all seek at some moment in our lives Perhaps the interesting part of this search is the discovery that that place is inside of us

15) What guitars are you playing these daysIn my concerts I usually play my 1971 Ramirez On this occasion however I will be playing

a Jorge de Zofia guitar with antique style tuning pegs (clavijero de palillos) for some of the pieces

16) How do you like living in the US now Is it a big change from SpainSometimes itrsquos difficult and sometimes not so much Flamenco is considered something ex-

otic here but at the same time it is very attractive to the American public The cultural shift is huge and we must focus on breaking the preconceptions that many already have about this art form This makes my commitment to my art stronger and as a result I donrsquot tend to dwell on the distance Instead I choose to focus on offering flamenco from a place of honesty thereby opening door or those who will come after me

17) Given the current economical crisis in Spain do you see other guitarists wanting to move here

It is very possible some with the intention of staying and others with the intention to even-tually return to Spain Moments of crisis always lead to movement

18)Where do you see yourself going with your musicWherever life takes me as long as I can express my emotions with my guitar

19)Whats the future look like for flamenco and Jose Luis RodriguezWho knowshellipthe future is yet to come I believe that right now we have to learn to balance

all that we have gathered in the last 30 years in musical technical and compositional terms Cre-ating new forms without losing the original essence of flamenco is an accomplishment in and of

10

itself The death of Paco de Lucia Camaron de la Isla and Enrique Morente have resulted in a pause to a certain level and has caused us to re-examine flamenco from a technical and interpreta-tive stand point We will be able to see how flamenco evolves as time goes by

20) Any other projects youd like to mentionThis year has brought three large projects to which I would like to give continuity

First is ldquoAvalonrdquo which is not only a concert but also a series of workshops and labs with musicians and youth to create a hybrid musical language with which flamenco can be better under-stood It is my hope that new concert pieces for guitar and orchestra in different musical forms and presentation formats will evolve out of these labs

Secondly I am composing the music for a new movie called ldquo Finding Compassrdquo directed by Kathy Douglas who is collaborating with several well known American flamenco artists and with Spanish flamenco artist Farruquito as a guest artist I believe it is a very good opportunity to dem-onstrate the way that flamenco can enrich our lives at a subtle level outside of the stereotypes of the ldquopassion and firerdquo in the framework of a movie that speaks of our everyday lives

The third and last is a teaching-learning project titled

wwwFLAMENCOGUITARCLASScom Its purpose is showcase Flamenco in a holistic manner through popular forms of learning The platform will include many explanations about the culture and the historical context as well as information about the rhythms melodies and structures

Our intention is to go beyond rhythms melodies and technique to pass on the legacy that Mario Escudero Nintildeo Ricardo and others have left for us Irsquom very excited about this project and Irsquoll be accompanied by other great artists like Berto Boyd and Gabriel Ramirez who are working on the scores and writing all the details for the website

11

13)How is Suite Avalon different than anything youve ever written (You wrote it with the intention of it being with orchestra correct)

The guitar compositions of ldquoAvalonrdquo can work independently as concert pieces The orches-tra is an element that creates a musical component that opens the guitar compositions to orches-tral support The orchestra waits for the guitar to introduce the theme or introduces the theme as the guitar waits The result is a unified compact composition but one that can also function inde-pendently or in a modular format

14)Where did the inspiration for Suite Avalon come fromThe idea of ldquoAvalonrdquo comes from a series of ideas It comes from the necessity of finding

common ground between musicians with formal training and popular musicians It is also born from my own journey in life the leaving of my own country in search of a place where I can de-velop my own compositions and my concert career ldquoAvalonrdquo is an idyllic mystical place we all seek at some moment in our lives Perhaps the interesting part of this search is the discovery that that place is inside of us

15) What guitars are you playing these daysIn my concerts I usually play my 1971 Ramirez On this occasion however I will be playing

a Jorge de Zofia guitar with antique style tuning pegs (clavijero de palillos) for some of the pieces

16) How do you like living in the US now Is it a big change from SpainSometimes itrsquos difficult and sometimes not so much Flamenco is considered something ex-

otic here but at the same time it is very attractive to the American public The cultural shift is huge and we must focus on breaking the preconceptions that many already have about this art form This makes my commitment to my art stronger and as a result I donrsquot tend to dwell on the distance Instead I choose to focus on offering flamenco from a place of honesty thereby opening door or those who will come after me

17) Given the current economical crisis in Spain do you see other guitarists wanting to move here

It is very possible some with the intention of staying and others with the intention to even-tually return to Spain Moments of crisis always lead to movement

18)Where do you see yourself going with your musicWherever life takes me as long as I can express my emotions with my guitar

19)Whats the future look like for flamenco and Jose Luis RodriguezWho knowshellipthe future is yet to come I believe that right now we have to learn to balance

all that we have gathered in the last 30 years in musical technical and compositional terms Cre-ating new forms without losing the original essence of flamenco is an accomplishment in and of

10

itself The death of Paco de Lucia Camaron de la Isla and Enrique Morente have resulted in a pause to a certain level and has caused us to re-examine flamenco from a technical and interpreta-tive stand point We will be able to see how flamenco evolves as time goes by

20) Any other projects youd like to mentionThis year has brought three large projects to which I would like to give continuity

First is ldquoAvalonrdquo which is not only a concert but also a series of workshops and labs with musicians and youth to create a hybrid musical language with which flamenco can be better under-stood It is my hope that new concert pieces for guitar and orchestra in different musical forms and presentation formats will evolve out of these labs

Secondly I am composing the music for a new movie called ldquo Finding Compassrdquo directed by Kathy Douglas who is collaborating with several well known American flamenco artists and with Spanish flamenco artist Farruquito as a guest artist I believe it is a very good opportunity to dem-onstrate the way that flamenco can enrich our lives at a subtle level outside of the stereotypes of the ldquopassion and firerdquo in the framework of a movie that speaks of our everyday lives

The third and last is a teaching-learning project titled

wwwFLAMENCOGUITARCLASScom Its purpose is showcase Flamenco in a holistic manner through popular forms of learning The platform will include many explanations about the culture and the historical context as well as information about the rhythms melodies and structures

Our intention is to go beyond rhythms melodies and technique to pass on the legacy that Mario Escudero Nintildeo Ricardo and others have left for us Irsquom very excited about this project and Irsquoll be accompanied by other great artists like Berto Boyd and Gabriel Ramirez who are working on the scores and writing all the details for the website

11

itself The death of Paco de Lucia Camaron de la Isla and Enrique Morente have resulted in a pause to a certain level and has caused us to re-examine flamenco from a technical and interpreta-tive stand point We will be able to see how flamenco evolves as time goes by

20) Any other projects youd like to mentionThis year has brought three large projects to which I would like to give continuity

First is ldquoAvalonrdquo which is not only a concert but also a series of workshops and labs with musicians and youth to create a hybrid musical language with which flamenco can be better under-stood It is my hope that new concert pieces for guitar and orchestra in different musical forms and presentation formats will evolve out of these labs

Secondly I am composing the music for a new movie called ldquo Finding Compassrdquo directed by Kathy Douglas who is collaborating with several well known American flamenco artists and with Spanish flamenco artist Farruquito as a guest artist I believe it is a very good opportunity to dem-onstrate the way that flamenco can enrich our lives at a subtle level outside of the stereotypes of the ldquopassion and firerdquo in the framework of a movie that speaks of our everyday lives

The third and last is a teaching-learning project titled

wwwFLAMENCOGUITARCLASScom Its purpose is showcase Flamenco in a holistic manner through popular forms of learning The platform will include many explanations about the culture and the historical context as well as information about the rhythms melodies and structures

Our intention is to go beyond rhythms melodies and technique to pass on the legacy that Mario Escudero Nintildeo Ricardo and others have left for us Irsquom very excited about this project and Irsquoll be accompanied by other great artists like Berto Boyd and Gabriel Ramirez who are working on the scores and writing all the details for the website

11

The approach to pedagogy is some thing that has been slowly transforming from a dogmatic to a more adaptive style The old school Maes-tros used to be very authoritarian and ldquomy way or the high-wayrdquo kind of philoso-phy with out taking too much into ac-count the ways in

which we are all different physically emotionally and psychologically Having never quite listened to my teachers enough (for better and for worse) I was determined to fig-ure things out for myself However I also started teaching at age 17 and realized that many people had similar problems but the solutions they needed where a bit different for each one It is from this point of view that I will approach this article

In the playing of Picado or rest strokes scale passages in flamenco (and classical with certain modifications) I would invite everyone to see for themselves how their fin-gers are Are they stiff strong flexible long and lanky short and stubby How flexible are your joints How do they respond to pressure on the string Do they bend at the tip joint or do they resist easily and stay firm All those are questions one must answer for one self In my opinion the lion share of power comes from the knuckle joint be-cause that is where we draw the most power from by tapping into larger muscles from the forearm How ever the other joints (middle and tip) also participate in the striking of the string and over all motion Focusing on Picado ie rest stroke we must consider a few things

THE PRACTICE OF PICADO

12

by Adam Del Monte

1 First start by feeling the level of resistance on the string and pay atten-tion to how much power you need to press it down and to make a decent sound

2 Make sure that when you have released the string that you really feel the lower string you are landing on as you rest on it Like diving into a deep pool of wa-ter the fastest way back up to the surface is going all the way to the bottom and kick-ing your self up The string you are landing on is the bottom of the pool Feel the bounce back as a release also allow you finger to relax and reposition itsrsquo self for the next note

3 Make sure your wrist has a bit of a curve to it Not too much so that you have tension and too much pressure on you tendons but just enough to have suffi-cient elastic energy so as to help you with a faster release for the reset of the finger

4 Itrsquos up to you if you want to play with straight fingers or bend them at the joints as long as you push from the knuckles This is the personal part You may experiment with different ways Sabicas played with straight fingers whereas Paco de Lucia had a bend at the tip for more power He also would curve his thumb inward for that extra turbo power when going really fast That would provide a whole other level of elastic energy in his hand

5 When practicing Picado itrsquos best to start with simple short drills like 23 and 4 notes per string even open string and make it really good Nothing is too simple or easy or not worthy of doing Every thing must be done with focus and passion even 4 notes on one string

6 Work on the quality of the succession of notes and listen to them and see if yoursquore happy with it It is hard to get a nice legato sound but at the same time punchy and articulated

7 String crossing is the biggest obstacle to speed and fluidity It is more pleasant to go down with the i finger and up with the m finger than the other way round It is there for that we need to practice becoming comfortable with the sensation of both variations of string crossings ie up or down with the i finger and up or down with m finger By playing 3 notes on a string from op to bottom we are forced to change fingers as we cross strings thus having to adapt to the sensation of constant change That will make your Picado more agile and adaptive to any scenario which is especially good for improvising

8 Make sure that you as relaxed yet alert as possible You donrsquot want to have any excessive tension or misalignment in any way That is of course hard to ad-dress in an article itrsquos easier to see it in person However the angle of approach to the string must be from above and with the feeling of power and control over the string

13

Also it must be even ie the ideal leveraged control one has over the first string up un-til the third is the basic guideline for the optimal position After that it gets cramped To avoid that cramping feeling there are two things we can do a) lift the wrist and fore-arm as we go down or lift from the whole arm from the shoulder Now here is the big issue If we lift from the shoulder and stay there for too long yoursquoll start building up bad tension in your upper back and shoulder and it will mess you up big time So what is the reality of the issue A Picado scale at best lasts 3-78 seconds unless yoursquore on some crazy racehellip But realistically and musically speaking your shoulder need not be up in the air for more than 5-7 seconds Which means that you have to consciously RELEASE your shoulder immediately after the scale passage And relax your arm So the problemquestion then continues when yoursquore practicing Picado for a long period of timehellip solution Do a scale passage lift your arm or shoulder as need BUT AL-WAYS BE MINDFUL OF RELEASING THE ARM AFTER 7-10 SECONDS Once you get used to releasing the arm by resting it on the body of the guitar on a regular basis yoursquoll actually realize that you can do that during the playing of Picado passages by also leaning the cushion of your forearm on the guitar rather than straight on the pleat on the other side of your elbow

One can go on and on about more details but I think itrsquos enough for a first article and discus-sion Start experimenting with different drills and exercises but remember what matters in an exercise is HOW yoursquore practicing it Start by doing things slowly and make sure yoursquore comfortable and then gradually build up speed and power In a future article Irsquoll talk about dif-ferent issue regarding practice routines and how to get over blockages and the science of im-provement Bye for now and good luck And remember enjoy the process -Adam Del Monte (click for his website)

14

Also it must be even ie the ideal leveraged control one has over the first string up un-til the third is the basic guideline for the optimal position After that it gets cramped To avoid that cramping feeling there are two things we can do a) lift the wrist and fore-arm as we go down or lift from the whole arm from the shoulder Now here is the big issue If we lift from the shoulder and stay there for too long yoursquoll start building up bad tension in your upper back and shoulder and it will mess you up big time So what is the reality of the issue A Picado scale at best lasts 3-78 seconds unless yoursquore on some crazy racehellip But realistically and musically speaking your shoulder need not be up in the air for more than 5-7 seconds Which means that you have to consciously RELEASE your shoulder immediately after the scale passage And relax your arm So the problemquestion then continues when yoursquore practicing Picado for a long period of timehellip solution Do a scale passage lift your arm or shoulder as need BUT AL-WAYS BE MINDFUL OF RELEASING THE ARM AFTER 7-10 SECONDS Once you get used to releasing the arm by resting it on the body of the guitar on a regular basis yoursquoll actually realize that you can do that during the playing of Picado passages by also leaning the cushion of your forearm on the guitar rather than straight on the pleat on the other side of your elbow

One can go on and on about more details but I think itrsquos enough for a first article and discus-sion Start experimenting with different drills and exercises but remember what matters in an exercise is HOW yoursquore practicing it Start by doing things slowly and make sure yoursquore comfortable and then gradually build up speed and power In a future article Irsquoll talk about dif-ferent issue regarding practice routines and how to get over blockages and the science of im-provement Bye for now and good luck And remember enjoy the process -Adam Del Monte (click for his website)

14

Check out Adamrsquos material and online lessons at wwwnewlearningvisioncom

Check out Adamrsquos Classical Guitar video series httpswwwyoutubecomwatchv=TpS0NBrf6eAamplist=PLYOYnG4kdjm6wXmL_tt-

wDDEscE0vBCKh

Adam del Montersquos new Flamenco OPERA Llantos

A flamenco operaComposer and Libretto Adam del Monte

This is the first press release of del Montersquos latest endeavorOver the past two and a half years Adam has been composing and recently fin-

ished his first opera

It is a tale of Gypsies Jews Christians and Moors at the beginning of the Spanish Inquisition

Set during the height of the Spanish Inquisition Llantos is an opera about the persistence and ultimate triumph of identity both religious and ethnic in a time of in-tolerance At its musical core it utilizes the rhythms and forms of flamenco ndash espe-cially the Cante Jondo ndash as a strong musical and stylistic template yet ventures into more contemporary realms The opera is flamenco in character but not limited to only that genre having an almost even distribution of lyrical operatic singing and cante fla-menco

This epic tale which is steeped in historical research retraces the origins and in-fluences of flamenco through historical and personal interactions

A Seguiriya sung by a classical baritone voice with full orchestral accompani-ment a Solea sung and played by classical and flamenco singers with full orchestra-tion The new roll of the flamenco guitar as a fundamental color and voice in an opera are only some of the newly explored territories taken on by this work

Stay tuned for more updates on this groundbreaking project

15

16

NEW RELEASESVahagniFeatured VideoNew Album ldquoImagined FrequenciesrdquoAlbum available on iTunesWeaving classical jazz and folk music into a fresh flamenco guitar sound Vahagnirsquos style is unmistakably unique and this album shows it off

ldquoBamboleo for Solo Guitarrdquo by Ben WoodsFeatured VideoSingle available Mp3 with Tab and notation hereArranged for solo guitar outlining the melodies and always keeping that driving rhythm Get the tab and play it yourself A great standard for any gig

ldquoRumba al Maestrordquo by Eric amp EncarnacionFeatured VideoSingle available at iTunesA glorious instrumental Flamenco Guitar Rumba Catchy yet sophisticated this was composed as a dedication to maestro Paco de Lucia

ldquo9 Guitarrasrdquo by Amir John Haddad ldquoEl AmirrdquoFeatured Video ldquoBuleriasrdquoAlbum available at iTunes9 sublime Flamenco compositions played on 9 different Flamenco guitars The force behind Radio Tarifa he also plays several instruments very well

Albums every Flamenco guitarist must haveESSENTIAL ALBUM REVIEWS

17

Paco de Lucia - Almoraima (1976)BY BEN WOODS | SEPTEMBER 14 2015I honestly love all of Pacorsquos albums but for me Almoraima is my fa-vorite Itrsquos just SO Flamenco From the opening track you know yoursquore in for some of the best guitar playing ever recorded That first bulerias showing groove and aggression with those explosive alzapuas But whatrsquos interesting to me is not only is it Pacorsquos best studio production IMO but that he knows just how bad-ass those riffs are so he repeats them as recuring themes Making a song in-stead of just a string of falsettas in between compas

To me this shows his maturity as a songwriter not just amazing player Obviously all the other songs are brilliant as well (especially the Sevillanas and Solea IMO) and all contain a special magic that never get tiresome The album Sirocco is just as good however this one is not as brit-tle and drowning in too much reverb as Siroco For me this album ldquoAlmoraimardquo showcases the maestro at his absolute peak of Flamenco playing and composing It is widely known that Paco is the best this is the BEST of the best

Pedro Sierra - El Toque FlamencoBY ERIC JAEGER | SEPTEMBER 14 2015

If yoursquore into flamenco guitar therersquos more access to great record-ings than ever these days Still modern classics are hard to come by ldquoEl Toque Flamencordquo is a stellar example of kick ass modern fla-menco guitar firmly rooted in tradition Compaacutesaire Technique Dynamics Original and creative compositions Pedro has it all

His solid production values are stripped down and bare bones He obviously set out to make a pure flamenco guitar record that defied the trendy overly orches-trated and produced crap so prevalent today The obligatory 2 songs that give the worst wedding jazz a run for its money not included

Instead we get pure flamenco guitar played by one of the best in the biz Solid palmas and a little jaleo puro from Bobote hold together the entire record aside from a touch of percussion on the Fandangos and some basspiano on the remix of ldquoLa Serraniacuteardquo at the end

This review proved difficult to keep short I could easily have reviewed every song as they are all worthy Letrsquos just say that Pedro knocks it out of the park on this one He reminds us that fla-menco guitar on itrsquos own is more than enough in the hands of a master

Paco Heredia ndash El Nintildeo De La Bella Sonrisa (2009)BY KAI NAREZO | SEPTEMBER 14 2015

Out of all the flamenco CDs Irsquove bought in the last 10 years (yes I still buy CDs) the one I probably go back to the most is Paco Herediarsquos lsquoEl Nintildeo De La Bella Sonrisarsquo It may be because I still like to listen to a whole album and this one feels like a unified work as well as an explo-ration

I like how the first track Me Pinta opens with a programmed beat that feels perfectly appropri-ate nothing crazy and settles into a beat that could just as easily be a cajoacuten and palmas ndash but of course it isnrsquot There are hints like this throughout the album but the focus is not actually on any major innovations as much as it is on melodies cante from Guadiana Montse Corteacutes and Genara Corteacutes and of course some great guitar playing

The little bit of programming and some of the arrangements could turn off the more rigid purists but what I love is that the record sounds like what it is ndash seasoned flamencos playing and having fun with some great music And I think the fun and the love of the music are what come through and keep pulling me back in

Pepe Justicia - Solo Agua (2002)BY BERTO BOYD | SEPTEMBER 22 2015

With the proliferation of music online today it is harder than ever to find recordings like Solo Agua that are destined to become classics I ordered this album after it being recommended in Flamenco Connec-tions newsletter that they used to send out (by mail)

I am one of the few musicians that doesnt care for subscription streaming services not only because they dont pay the musicians a fair wage but for the main reason that I like to be in control of what I lis-

ten to I want an album that is worthy of invading my headspace and will ultimately influence me in my own compositions Solo Agua is one of my personal all-time favorite albums ever recorded I love how in the opening track Cepa Jerezana you instantly get that Jerez playfulness and that Pepe has something unique to say Each track on this album has an abundance of material and creativity but the soul of the album lies within his Rondentildea entitled Mirando Al Mar Amongst the ocean soundscape in the beginning to the lush sounds filled with masterful improvisation at the end Pepe takes us on journey to some far out places and shows us his musical depth

I could literally go on and on because there are just so many cool moments on this album So just do yourself a favor and buy this album and keep it on repeat for a few years and you will soon un-derstand why it is on my desert island list of CDs

18

Discover what molded the hands of the worldrsquos top Flamenco guitarists from Spain Learn not only the studies and compositions they played for hours and hours as young children but why it is important for students of the guitar to understand the harmonic and technical evolution of where the guitar came from and where it is today in its pre-sent form

19

wwwFlamencoGuitarClasscom

The following free transcriptions are graciously provided by the good people at FlamencoGuitarClasscom

20

ampTAB

43 œœœœ œœœœ œœœœœœœœœ]

œœœ

6764

6764

6764

46764

467

œœœœ œœœœ œœœœœœ iquest œœ

6764

6764

46 iquest 4

6

œœ œœ iquest œœœœœœœœœœ

46 iquest 4

6764

46764

œœ œœœ œœœ œœ œœœ]

œœ

64

676

46 6

76

67

amp 5 œœœœ œœœœœ œœœœœœœœœ

œœœœœ]œœœ

5

6764

46764

6764

46764

46764

467

œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ iquest œœœœœœœœœœ

œœœœœ3

676

467

674

467 iquest 4

6764

46764

46764

jœœœœœ permil Œ permil jœ46764 4

œ œ œ œ œœœ œœœ

5 4 5 7455

455

amp 9

œœœ œ œ œ œ9

4 67

œ œ œœœœ œœœœ

5 4

3242

3242

œœœœ œ œ œ œ

4 5 5 7

œ œ œ œ œœœ œœœ

5 4 5 7455

455

amp 13

œœœ œ œ œ œ œ13

455

4 67 5

œ œ œ œ œ œ

4 5 8 46

˙ œ œ7

4

œ œ œ œ œœœ œœœ

5 4 5 7455

455

amp 17

œœœ œ œ œ œ17

455

4 67

œ œ œ œ œ œ

5 4 2423

œ œ œ œ œ

4 5 5 7

œ œ œ œ œœœ œœœ

5 4 5 7455

455

FlamencoGuitarClasscomPerformerComposerJose Luis Rodriguez

copyFlamenco Guitar Classcom 2015

Bulerias no 5Transcription

Berto Boyd

Watch Bulerias Video

21

amp 21

œœœ œ œ œ œ œ21

455

4 67 5

œ œ œ œ œ œ

4 5 7 5 46

œ œ œœ]

œœ œœ iquest4

746

46 iquest

œœœ œœœ œœ iquest œœœ467

46 iquest 4

67

amp 25 œœœ œœœœ œœœœœ œœœœœ

œœ25

6764

gt4 4

6764

gt46

œœœ œ œœœ œœœœœœœœœœ

œœœœœ3

676

4676

46764

46764

46764

œœœœœ œœœ œœœ œœœœjœœœœœ permil

46764

467

gt4676

46764

gt

2

copyFlamenco Guitar Classcom 2015

Bulerias no5

22

ampTAB

42 43 42Œ Jœœœœ

n

8986

œœœœn œ œ8986

9 9( )

œœœœn œœ8986

98

œœœœœn œœœ œœ œœœ œœœœ68986

689 98

689

6

œœœœœn œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœœœ

œœœœœ68986

689

689

68986

68986

œœœœœn Œ68986

amp 43 427

œ œ œ œ œ œ7

07 9

6 8 9

œœ œ œ œ œ œ

06 8 9

6 8

œœ

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœœœ

096 8 9

7 97967686

œœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœœœ8 9

7 96 7 9 6 7

9897

œœœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ11 9 9 7 7 6

amp 43 4212 œœœœœœœœ œœ œ

1267686

67667 7

œ œ œ œ œ œ11 9 9 7 7 6

œœœœœœœœœœ

œœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ67686

79897

96 7 9 7 6

œ œœœœœœœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ

7 79897

96 7 9 7 6

œ œ œ œ9 7

9

amp 43 4217

œ œ œ œ œ œ17

07 9

6 8 9

œœ œ œ œ œ œ

06 8 9

6 8

œœ

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœœœ

096 8 9

7 97967686

œœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœœœ8 9

7 96 7 9 6 7

9897

œœœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ11 9 9 7 7 6

amp 43 4222 œœœœœœœœ œœ œ

2267686

67667 7

œ œ œ œ œ œ11 9 9 7 7 6

œœœœœœœœœœ

œœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ67686

79897

96 7 9 7 6

œ œœœœœœœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ

7 79897

96 7 9 7 6

œ œ œ œ9 7

9

FlamencoGuitarClasscomPerformerComposerJose Luis Rodriguez

copyFlamenco Guitar Classcom 2015

Seguiriya no7Transcription

Berto Boyd

1 2 3 + a 4 + a 5

1 2 3 + a 4 + a 5

Watch Seguiriyas Video

22

ampTAB

42 43 42Œ Jœœœœ

n

8986

œœœœn œ œ8986

9 9( )

œœœœn œœ8986

98

œœœœœn œœœ œœ œœœ œœœœ68986

689 98

689

6

œœœœœn œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœœœ

œœœœœ68986

689

689

68986

68986

œœœœœn Œ68986

amp 43 427

œ œ œ œ œ œ7

07 9

6 8 9

œœ œ œ œ œ œ

06 8 9

6 8

œœ

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœœœ

096 8 9

7 97967686

œœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœœœ8 9

7 96 7 9 6 7

9897

œœœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ11 9 9 7 7 6

amp 43 4212 œœœœœœœœ œœ œ

1267686

67667 7

œ œ œ œ œ œ11 9 9 7 7 6

œœœœœœœœœœ

œœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ67686

79897

96 7 9 7 6

œ œœœœœœœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ

7 79897

96 7 9 7 6

œ œ œ œ9 7

9

amp 43 4217

œ œ œ œ œ œ17

07 9

6 8 9

œœ œ œ œ œ œ

06 8 9

6 8

œœ

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœœœ

096 8 9

7 97967686

œœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœœœ8 9

7 96 7 9 6 7

9897

œœœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ11 9 9 7 7 6

amp 43 4222 œœœœœœœœ œœ œ

2267686

67667 7

œ œ œ œ œ œ11 9 9 7 7 6

œœœœœœœœœœ

œœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ67686

79897

96 7 9 7 6

œ œœœœœœœœœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ

7 79897

96 7 9 7 6

œ œ œ œ9 7

9

FlamencoGuitarClasscomPerformerComposerJose Luis Rodriguez

copyFlamenco Guitar Classcom 2015

Seguiriya no7Transcription

Berto Boyd

1 2 3 + a 4 + a 5

1 2 3 + a 4 + a 5

Watch Seguiriyas Video

23

amp 43 4227

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ27

7 6 7 96 8 9

6

œœœ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ86786696 6

9 8

œ œœœ œœœ œœ œœ œ œ

6 677

66 8 9

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ866966

9 8 6 69 7

œ œœœœœœœœ

œœœœ6

9977

111199

amp 43 4232 ˙˙

32

œœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ8778 6

96

0

9 7

œ œœœ œœœ œ œœœnnn œ

611119

010108

0

œœœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœœ8778 6

96

0

9 7 6 7997

œœœ œ œ œ886 7 6 7

amp 43 4237

iquest œœœ œ œœœ œ œ37

iquest 887 6

886 7 6

iquest œœœ œ œœœ œ œiquest 8

87 6

886 7 6

œœœ œœ œœœœn œœœœ

œœœœœœœœ

œœœœœœœœ

œœœœœœœœ

886

00 8

0986

80986

80986

80986

80986

80986

80986

80986

œœœœn œœœœ

œœœœœœœœ

œœœœœœœœ

œœœœœœœœ

œœœœœœœœ

80986

80986

80986

80986

80986

80986

80986

80986

80986

80986

Jœœœœ

n permil Œ80986

2 Seguiriya no7

copyFlamenco Guitar Classcom 2015

Fusions experiments nouveau jazz metal etc In an ever changing art form these diversions from tradition are what keeps this style growing and alive

BEYOND FLAMENCO

24

FLAMETAL ldquoFLAMETALrdquo Style Flamenco + MetalFeatured Video (click) SevillanasAvailable at iTunesOriginal Flamenco-Metal imagined and produced by Ben Woods with a few guest musicians of famous metal bands

ldquoSURF FLAMINGOrdquo by Ben Woods Style Surf + FlamencoFeatured Video (click) Mr MotoNew Album ldquoSurf FlamingordquoAvailable at iTunesPopular Surf tunes re-imagined through the idiom of Flamenco guitar with Flamenco percussion

ldquoENCANTADOrdquo by Jim Stubblefield Style Nouveau FlamencoFeatured Video ACROSS THE BURNING SANDSAvailable at iTunesEncantado a sonic global journey featuring virtuoso exotic guitar world percussion languid strings and gorgeous non-lyric vocals

ldquoFLAMETALLICArdquo by Ben Woods Style Acoustic MetallicaFeatured Video ldquoMotorbreathrdquoAvailable at iTunesClassic Metallica songs arranged for Flamenco guitar and cajon

Fusions experiments nouveau jazz metal etc In an ever changing art form these diversions from tradition are what keeps this style growing and alive

BEYOND FLAMENCO

24

FLAMETAL ldquoFLAMETALrdquo Style Flamenco + MetalFeatured Video (click) SevillanasAvailable at iTunesOriginal Flamenco-Metal imagined and produced by Ben Woods with a few guest musicians of famous metal bands

ldquoSURF FLAMINGOrdquo by Ben Woods Style Surf + FlamencoFeatured Video (click) Mr MotoNew Album ldquoSurf FlamingordquoAvailable at iTunesPopular Surf tunes re-imagined through the idiom of Flamenco guitar with Flamenco percussion

ldquoENCANTADOrdquo by Jim Stubblefield Style Nouveau FlamencoFeatured Video ACROSS THE BURNING SANDSAvailable at iTunesEncantado a sonic global journey featuring virtuoso exotic guitar world percussion languid strings and gorgeous non-lyric vocals

ldquoFLAMETALLICArdquo by Ben Woods Style Acoustic MetallicaFeatured Video ldquoMotorbreathrdquoAvailable at iTunesClassic Metallica songs arranged for Flamenco guitar and cajon

25

ldquoFLAMETAL PRIESTrdquo Ben WoodsStyle Judas Priest Classics on Flamenco GuitarFeatured Video ldquoBreaking the LawrdquoAvailable at iTunes2 Flamenco guitars playing Judas Priest classics

ldquoHEAVY MELLOW Volumes 1 amp 2rdquo Heavy MellowStyle Metal Classics on Flamenco Guitars and cajonFeatured Video ldquoOver the MountainrdquoAvailable at iTunesA double album for the price of one2 Flamenco guitars + 1 cajon playing 20 metal classics

ldquoDIVIDE AND UNITErdquo Thomas ZwijsenStyle Classical and Flamenco guitar FusionFeatured Video ldquoTango on the Edge of the WorldrdquoAvailable hereContains 11 original compositions The songs clearly display Thomas classical background as well as his influences of flamenco rock and metal

ldquoTHE FREEDOMrdquo Roberto Amaral Style Flamenco pop rock fusion in English and SpanishFeatured Video ldquoCon Mucho FuegordquoAvailable on iTunes a dynamic vocal and instrumental fusion of Pop Flamenco Latin Jazz Rock and RampB Featuring original compositions written and sung by Roberto Amaral singersongwriter of the legendary Flamenco Rock band Carmen

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